Boiling
by DaughterOfAres
Summary: A simmering pot can burn just as well as a boiling one. Episode tag for 4x02, Sorry I Missed You. I felt we needed to see the aftermath of Andy's little slip up.


**So, I guess this is Shandy? I'm not sure. There's really nothing romantic going on, but in my experience it's considered Shandy if Flynn and Raydor are standing in the same room. So…I guess this counts as Shandy. It does acknowledge about as much about their relationship as we've seen on the show.**

 **This is an episode tag to Sorry I Missed You (4x02).**

* * *

 **Boiling**

She should have canceled their dinner plans.

"So, as we're leaving the hotel Buzz notices that his taillight is broken, and before…."

She should also let him know that she's heard this story.

"… and it's the guy who we just served papers to!" Andy laughed, his teeth flashing charmingly.

She forced a smile and picked at her salad. Spearing a crunchy green just a little more forcefully than necessary her fork scrapped the bottom of the bowl. She winced, almost unnoticeably, at the noise. She could end this. She needed to end this. A part of her told her to wait. That it was too fresh. That she wasn't thinking clearly. The anger was still bubbling right beneath the surface. Simmering, now, no longer the angry boiling rage she'd felt immediately after.

And it had been rage she'd battled against in electronics yesterday. Pure and simple rage. She'd been distracted not long after that, however, and the rage had time to cool to a steady boil instead of the violent bubbling that had immediately assaulted her.

"…anyway," he continued on oblivious, "the Chief was furious, of course, and…"

Now that the boiling had cooled to a simmer other thoughts had mixed in the pot, as well. Hurt for one. She thought he cared. Was she really that wrong about him?

"…served the papers to the wrong guy, if you can believe it."

Disappointment was swirling around in the pot, too. She wanted the disappointment and hurt to be the only things she felt when they had this conversation. Not the anger.

Her fork clinked gently against the bowl as the hand holding it joined the one in her lap. Her fingernails scrapped roughly over the cloth napkin draped over her thigh several times before she noticed the nervous scratching. Picking up the corner of the napkin she began fidgeting with the cloth, instead. Rolling and unrolling the corner over and over between her fingertips.

"…And who do you think answers the door?" Apparently, Andy didn't expect her to reply because he chuckled before continuing with his story.

Did she even have a right to be angry at him still? He'd apologized already. Said it was an accident. A little slipup. She realized it was relatively minor. Unlike his behavior with Julio, but that was a conversation for another time. When they were in a different capacity. When she was sitting comfortably behind her desk knowing exactly what to say and do in her position as his commanding officer. There wasn't a lot of grey in that capacity. She knew her job. She knew the job she needed him to do. The end. But what they were doing now…this…she wasn't on sturdy ground anymore.

Or maybe it wasn't the ground but her footing that wasn't steady.

"Sharon? Sharon?" Andy's voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm? Yes?" She'd apparently drifted so far into her own thoughts that she couldn't recall what he'd just said to her.

"You look like you're a thousand miles away." He shrugged, a small uneasy smirk in place. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," her answer was automatic, and came out too quickly to be believable.

A simmering pot can start boiling again unless it's taken off the stove.

Andy didn't say anything, but his smirk disappeared. He sat staring at her with his mouth open and his brows drawn together in confusion. She could almost see him thinking. Watch as he tried to figure out what he did wrong. Unexpectedly, that realization – that he didn't know why she was upset- caused her anger to boil all over again, and the hurt couldn't temper the hot bubbling.

"I should go." She picked her purse up from the floor, and began rooting through it nervously for reasons she didn't know because her valet ticket was in her pocket. She pulled out her phone as though that was why she'd started searching through her purse.

"We haven't had dinner, yet." He stated, still confused.

"I'm…" She stopped. She'd made the decision to do this- whatever this was. She needed to follow through with it, or end it immediately. She couldn't wait for the anger to pass on its own. Because it wouldn't. She returned her purse to the floor.

"I know, you apologized, Andy." She measured each word slowly, and carefully. "I appreciate that."

He still looked confused, and placed his elbows on the table to lean towards her slightly.

"But I _need_ you to understand."

"About calling you Sharon at work?" His head tilted to the side, and it would have been cute if the steam from the boiling anger wasn't making everything hazy. "It was an accident, I swear. I know you said that at work you need me to be professional, and I am. It was just one little slip."

"Let. Me. Finish."

He sighed, and leaned back in his chair. She half expected him to roll his eyes in the same juvenile fashion that her three teenagers had at various points in their lives.

She paused, trying to will the large angrily popping bubbles to return to a stead simmer. "I'm not going to tell you why it's so important to me that we remain professional at work. Even if you don't already know, the reasons why shouldn't matter. What does matter is that it's _important to me_."

He straightened a little bit, fidgeting slightly, apparently sensing just how serious she was about this. Good.

"It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me."

He made no move to speak, but nodded slightly.

She looked down at her empty salad bowl. What had made her think a relationship with him could work in the first place? He'd made a good friend, yes, a very good friend. But this…was it a mistake? Abruptly, the anger cooled. Simmering once again, but still present. Her hands moved from her lap, and her fingers intertwined themselves in front of her.

"Andy, I…" she trailed off. She had thought she wanted their relationship to grow. A part of her still did, but he had to understand, and she couldn't force that understanding on him.

Scalding him with her anger wouldn't make him understand.

"I'm angry. I'm hurt that what's important to me means so little to you that you'd allow yourself to slip like that in front of people whose respect I need. "

His eyes widened, and she couldn't think it was her words that suddenly made him understand. Maybe it was how her eyes could only meet his for a brief second?

"Sharon…" he reached for her across the table, and she leaned away from him.

He looked hurt as she drew away.

A simmering pot can still scald.

"Think about it." She hesitated, " _for me_."

He nodded, "I will. I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"I know."

* * *

 **Yes. That's the end. There will not be more. I left it open so you can take it whatever way you'd like. Sharon doesn't sound quite like herself, here. Sadly, I'm not very good at capturing her voice, but I couldn't figure out how to do this from Provenza's POV…**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read. Tell me what you think.**

 **And tell me your thoughts/hopes/whatever about tonight's episode!**


End file.
